"Once fracking started, there was groundwater contamination both from the wells and also from pits, some leaks and that sort of thing," Anderson said in describing the town of Pavillion and surrounding areas.
"The state has actually funded cistern systems for landowners to get new water sources because they can’t use ground water any more. Their domestic wells are polluted," Anderson told Sputnik.
The Powder River Basin Resource Council operates a network of community organizers throughout Wyoming that focus on conserving natural resources in one of most pristine regions of the United States.
"The state has actually funded cistern systems for landowners to get new water sources because they can’t use ground water any more. Their domestic wells are polluted," Anderson pointed out.
The pollution from accumulated methane was so great that at one point flames would erupt when a lighted match was placed next to a sample of well water, Anderson explained.
The Stanford study is likely to give fresh momentum to a nationwide effort to ban fracking, a process where water and chemicals are injected into the ground at high pressure to break apart rock formations to unlock pockets of oil and gas.
The widespread use of fracking has led to an oil and gas glut in the United States. Activists claim the practice threatens drinking water supplies throughout the United States, and some US states have banned fracking as a result.
